Photo by Colter Peterson (Post-Dispatch)
Elaia
Aaron Martinez has succeeded Ben Grupe as executive chef of Ben Poremba’s Elaia. When Poremba announced the transition in October 2018, he told the Post-Dispatch that when he read Martinez’s résumé, “I thought someone was playing a prank on me.” Martinez had worked at two restaurants that had greatly influenced Poremba: Addison in San Diego, where Martinez had been sous chef, and Quince in San Francisco, where he’d been chef de cuisine. After a few months at Elaia (as I write this), Martinez seems like an ideal fit for the restaurant’s upscale, progressive aesthetic. The midwinter menu showed elegance (lobster agnolotti with leek ash and Meyer lemon under a shower of shaved black truffle) and inspiration (smoked foie gras as a bassline for velvet pioppini mushrooms in a seaweed broth), and I can’t wait to see what he does with his first spring and summer in St. Louis. Another significant change for Elaia: Though a longer chef’s tasting menu remains available, you can now order a three-, four- or five-course menu for $55, $70 or $85.
Hours: Dinner Wednesday-Saturday (closed Sunday-Tuesday)
Last year's ranking: No. 2
Opened: 2012